by Joel Addington
Contributing Writer
They say the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.
For graduate Kerry Harris – who received his high school diploma Tuesday and will begin an electrician’s apprenticeship next month – that axiom couldn’t be truer.
Despite falling greatly behind in school, the 19-year-old didn’t call it quits. Harris joined the U.S. Department of Labor’s Job Corps program and went to work on getting his diploma from a local charter school while simultaneously preparing for a career in electronics.
“We were having problems with the public school system,” explained Kerry Harris’ mother Janice Harris. “He had fallen so far behind we encouraged him to get a trade like his granddad, who attended Job Corps.”
Yesterday Kerry Harris joined 60 fellow graduates of the Jacksonville Job Corps Center and SIATech (School for Integrated Academics and Technology), a charter high school operated in conjunction with the center, for the ceremony in the school’s gymnasium off Golfair Boulevard.
“When he got here he loved it,” said Janice Harris of her son. “The things he strived to do in the school system – pass the FCAT – he was able to do here. The first time he took it, he did better than his level. Sometimes the things around you can be a hindrance.”
After only a year at SIATech, Kerry Harris was dressed in a cap and gown, ready to tackle the future.
“I’ve been through so much in school,” he said. “This is really special to me.”
When asked what he’ll remember most about his experience, Kerry Harris said it would be his teacher.
“Mr. Jones is the realest teacher you’ll ever meet,” he said. “He’s very down to Earth and he’ll work with you.”
Kerry Harris even credited his teacher for getting him a job with a local electric company in August.
“He’s a really cool person,” he said.
But Kerry Harris is just one 7,000 graduates to have earned their high school diplomas at SIATech. The non-profit organization operates a dropout recovery program with 14 campuses nationwide used to reconnect students to education through a technology-driven curriculum. For instance, senior English projects consist of writing a short story and then turning it into a movie produced in the school video production studio.
“We let them work as much as they want and they do an unbelievable amount of work in a short period of time because they realize they’re behind,” said SIATech principal Michael LaRoche. “It’s competency based. Students achieve as much as they can at any given time. You pass a test and you can keep going, until you pass another test and another test.”
Such an individualized approach to learning is a must at SIATech because students come in with varying levels of education. Some may have dropped out their senior year of traditional high school with most of the required credits.
“And some come to us with zero credits,” said LaRoche. “So they need 24 credits just like very other student in Florida. It all depends.”
For graduate Mary Gambrell, who served as class president, the school and Job Corps offered a quicker alternative to college after she graduated from public high school in 2006. In six months she completed SIATech’s business administration program and now she intends to continue her education at Edward Waters College.
The best part though was getting to attend a second prom.
“My high school prom was fun, but this was a lot of fun,” she said.
While at Job Corps and rooming with three other girls, Gambrell’s tolerance was often tested. Coming from a strict religious household, she said she had to “learn to respect them (her roommates) and not force things on them.”
“Job Corps also pulled things out of me, like being more assertive,” she added. “I was really shy and reserved and it’s helped me become more of a leader.”
But what makes these graduates so special, said LaRoche, is that they earn their diplomas while at the same time learning a trade.
“A person with eight months in, four months are spent doing their trade,” said LaRoche. “That’s why everyone here we consider heroes.”